Backpacking South America

We finished the W circuit in Torres del Paine National Park in Southern Chile. It was quite the endeavor – 5 days out on the trail for a total of just over 46 miles of hiking. Thankfully, we both made it through with no long-lasting injuries, but we thought we would share the highlights in the following posts.

Day 1 - Tuesday, February 23
Puerto Natales Chile to Refugio Grey

We got up early.  We had spent the previous days gathering insights on the park (conditions, routes, highlights, etc. – Erratic Rock info session highly recommended) and buying supplies to last us through the hike (everything was closed on Sunday).

Our bus arrived at our hostel around 7:30am.  After a few more stops, it was on to Torres del Paine.    As we made our way around town, we spotted a “beast” similar to what we might find in the wild.

We decided to hike the W trail (named because it makes a W on the map) starting at Hosterie Paine Grande – view a map.  So, upon our arrival to Parque Torres del Paine, we continued passed the Laguna Amarga entrance to the boat launch and took the Catamaran across Lake Pehoé to Paine Grande.

Read Days 1 – 3 of the Circuit

Day 4 – Thursday, February 25

Our day started a bit early. WIND found us! At 1:00AM, we were both woken by fierce winds slamming our tent. It was incredible and seemed to have come from nowhere. We sat up in our tent to make sure everything between the tent and rain fly was still there. Jared got out to tighten down the rainfly and make sure our camp was safe. The rain fly was intact, we still had all our gear and our tent had not been blown into the next galaxy.

The rain fly leaves about a 2 inch gap between the bottom and the ground, which is just enough space for the wind to pick up the dirt and push it through the mesh of the tent. It was like being stuck in a sand storm. We were pounded by dirt all night long. So much for a shower. I think I got dirtier in the next few hours after my shower, than I had been before I showered. We didn’t sleep real well that night, waking up every so often to strong, sustained winds.

So many of you may wonder what we did for Jared’s birthday. Have no fear, it was something FUN! Well your curiosity may now be killed: he got a CAR (rented, of course) and we, with 3 other travelers (Jude, Cayley and Maaike) took a road trip to Los Glaciares National Park. There we saw one of the most amazing sights, Glaciar Perito Moreno and spent the day listening and watching the glacier crack and drop large chunks of ice. It was incredible!

Glaciar Perito Moreno is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which is the world’s third largest ice field and fresh water reserve. It is also one of three glaciers in the Patagonia region that is not retreating. It grows daily up to about 6 feet. It is about 3 miles wide and extends more than 180 feet above the water.

While there, you have the opportunity to take boat rides in and around the glaciers, but we found it more fascinating to just walk along the walkways opposite the glacier, sit and watch the glacier fall for as long as we wanted. You are able to get so close! It’s nearly impossible to capture the size and color with the camera.

After an amazing day visiting Cerro Torre, we decided to press our luck and do a two-day hike to the base of the legendary Mount Fitz Roy the following day. Learning our lesson from Paso de las Nubes, we packed light and got going around 11.

After a quick 6 mile hike, we arrived at Campamiento Poincenot, set up our tent and gazed at Mount Fitz Roy, just waiting to get a bit closer.  What’s incredibly amazing about these mountains is that people come from all over the world to climb them or even try to summit them, particularly Mount Fitz Roy and may wait months for good weather. I am in awe of the kind of people who can even attempt this kind of feat.

The guide books all say the sunrise over the Fitz is an amazing experience, so we got in our tent shortly after 9pm, while it was still light out with an alarm set for 4:30 am. We thought we were crazy. Fortunately, we found another couple to climb to Laguna de los Tres at the base of Fitz Roy with us. We met just shy of 5am, headlamps and every piece of warm clothing on and made our way.

After weeks soaking in Chilean rain, it was a welcome change to arrive in El Chalten to a brilliant sunrise, only to be surpassed by the sunrise we would see only a few days later.

We have met countless travelers that had visited El Chalten – all had the same comments, it’s incredibly beautiful, but it is always windy and raining. So, we went, hoping for the best. We were not disappointed. We arrived to clear skies, no wind and no sign of rain. Our overnight bus along the desolate, gravel, legendary Route 40 (it was very beautiful) dropped us off shortly after 7 am. We dropped our gear off at a hostel, grabbed food for lunch and hit the trail, because we had no idea how long the weather would last.

Our first hike was up to the base of Cerro Torre, a granite spire that sticks straight out of the earth like a dagger. It was an amazing site that just got better the closer we got.

With the side trail, it was a 7 hour day of hiking after a less than perfect night of sleep – but we were so thankful to be blessed with the weather.